Those Nationals went a respectable 3-3 over the last week. They took a three game set against the Orioles, a series highlighted by a thrilling 12th inning walk off homerun. Since the team has come to Washington, the Nationals are 10-8 against Baltimore. Also, the fact that Teddy earned his first race win against the Oriole Bird cannot be ignored. This year has been the first year during which it felt like a real rivalry......

D.C. is a city of archetypes. There's the Hill staffer, the bigshot douchebag, the crackhead, the intern, the yuppie, the tourist. They all came together this week in a melange of stereotypes and stupidity. But not before discovering the newest trend: coming soon to a hip desk near you: vintage office supplies. Overheard of the Week: Three State Department interns at McDonalds during lunch rush: Girl 1: "So I'm supposed to go through her Rolodex......

Yesterday, Nationals manager Manny Acta called a team meeting to remind his players that they are not "independent league players." The point was that, despite being younger and not as talented as some other clubs, they are expected to be able to complete routine plays like hitting the cutoff man and fielding the baseball. It is clear that Manny will live with a team that is last in the National League in every offensive category,......

Over at Grist, Mike Tidwell writes about how ExxonMobil, "the biggest contributor to global warming of any company in the world," has become the target of some Nats fans who see the oil company's sponsorship of the 7th-inning stretch at Nationals Park as hugely hypocritical given that the stadium is touted as being the first "green" ballpark in the country. Tidwell is spot on when it comes to pointing out the best ironies in the......

The Nationals went 3-4 in the last week. The three wins came against the Seattle Mariners, the only team with a worse record than the Nats. Jose Vidro is their designated hitter, and they no longer have their manager. This is actually a good way to measure managers this year. If your team gets swept by the Nationals, then you deserve to be fired. The Nats still have the worst record in the NL, and......

The Nationals have won 3 of their last 13 games, and possess the second worst record in the National League. The team is currently batting .235, have an OBP of .310, are slugging .357, and have an OPS of .667. They also have 229 total RBIs and 781 total bases. What is amazing about all of these statistics is that the Nationals trail all other NL teams in each of them. In fact, these numbers......

The Nats are 3-3 in the last week. They even managed to score 25 runs in those 6 games, up from the 17 that they scored in the previous 7 games. They are still only batting .218 as a team with a .267 OBP in the last 7 days, putting them second to last in the National League during that period. Overall, the team is last in the National League with a .234 batting average,......

Washington Post writer Daniel LeDuc took a look at the Nationals' schedule this year are realized that there are no afternoon weekday games this year. The team had weekday afternoon games scheduled in the past, when they played at RFK, but have cited traffic concerns as the reason for abandoning them this year. Frequently called the "Businessman's Special," weekday afternoon games have always provided a a good excuse for skipping out of work. Much like......

The Nationals have gone 3-4 in the last week. Considering that the Nationals appear to have no interest in scoring runs, this record is fairly amazing. The Nationals are currently 28th, out of 30 teams, in the Major League in batting average at .237, 25th in OBP at .316, and 29th in slugging at .352. In fact, just pick about any offensive stat and the Nationals will be at the bottom of the list. When......

You can call me a Homer, but I think it is clear that the 2008 Florida Marlins are the greatest baseball team ever. I can't think of any other explanation for the Nationals' 1-8 record against them. One may think that a team with a batting average of .235 (15th in the NL), .353 Slugging (15th in the NL), .315 OBP (15th in the NL) and 166 runs scored (14th in the NL) is a......

In the last week the Nats have gone 4-2. They've won 7 of their last 10 games, and earned a better record, 14-19, than four teams in the National League. Austin Kearns looks like he has decided to earn his $5 million salary, batting .318 over the last week and adding a home run in last night's game. Even Rob Mackowiak has turned it around, batting .429 in the last seven games. Soon he may......

Since we last left them, the Nationals have won four of their last five games. They no longer possess the worst record in the league (thank you, Texas). Nationals attendance is also rising, and they are poised to break an average of 30,000 fans a game. Also, Wily Mo Pena has received his World Series ring! All is not puppies and sunshine for the Nats, though. First, closer Chad Cordero felt his arm go out......

At 6-16, the Nationals are currently the worst team in baseball. I wish that I could find some ray of hope, but when fellow fans in my section of Nationals Park lamented when pitcher Tim Redding was pulled from last night's game, it was because batting .222 makes him an offensive weapon on this team. In fact, he had the only RBIs in last night's game. The middle of the lineup is currently batting .209,......

At 4-10, the Nationals currently possess the worst record in the National League, and are tied with the Tigers for the worst record in baseball. The season is still young, but some disconcerting trends have already developed. Ryan Zimmerman is currently batting .211, and Austin Kearns is batting .217. Not exactly the numbers you want from your three and five hitters. Tim Redding, pitcher, is hitting a surprising .200. Unfortunately, that ties him with Paul......

With 1.8 percent of the season over, the Nationals were on pace to win a record setting 162 games. Currently, they are on a six-game losing streak, and now find themselves at the bottom of the NL East. That said, it is still too early in the season to be that worried about wins and losses, right Detroit? For example, a quick look at the standings show Baltimore, Kansas City, and Florida leading their divisions,......

Like a lot of people, I wasn't able to land Opening Day tickets at Nationals Park, so I went ahead and purchased a pair for tonight's second regular season home game, a 7:10 p.m. matchup against the Florida Marlins. Tickets at various price levels are still available, in fact. Unlike Opening Day, which was on a Sunday evening, tonight's game will be the first time we'll be able to see how Metro handles combining a......

DCist fanboy-in-chief Charles Gray tells us that Ryan Zimmerman found the zone for the Nats' stadium opener, swatting a tie-breaking walk-off home run for the win in the ninth. Woo! But Nationals fans — as well as residents and other visitors to the new stadium area — were less thrilled to find themselves in the Nats' new parking zone. According to WJLA, 103 cars were towed over the weekend from the area around Nationals Stadium.......

The Nationals announced today that the results are in from their online ballot asking fans to pick which songs will be played at Nationals Park. There's some good news, and some less good news. After the first Home Run by a Nats player in any game, we'll be treated to Chuck Brown's "Bustin Loose". Thank goodness. Something unique to D.C., and a great song to boot. Well done, Nats fans, for not picking Fat Boy......

WTOP reports that fans will be able to bring their own food to Nationals Park. "We're allowing folks to bring in food," Nats spokesperson Chartese Burnett told the news radio station. "I don't know who's going to want to bring in food with all the great offerings at Nationals Park." The story also suggests bringing food to RFK required a certain amount of subterfuge, but that wasn't our experience -- I certainly walked in to......

We've got to hand it to WMATA for coming up with plenty of fun, low-budget ways (in some cases, extremely low-budget) to encourage Nationals fans to take Metro to the new ballpark. Among their various efforts, listed on WMATA's special Nationals page, Metro is currently selling a limited supply of Nationals-themed SmarTrip cards. The two designs, one with the team logo and the other with an image of the new ballpark, are available for $5......

D.C. might not have voting rights, but as a terribly small consolation prize, our baseball team is letting us vote on the in-game music in hopes of starting some lasting traditions at the new Nationals Park. Right now you can go to the Washington Nationals web site and select the song to be played on the stadium PA after a home run, during the 7th inning stretch, and after a Nationals victory. Go here to......

We know. After the D.C. quarter debacle, we're getting the message -- voting rights is just too controversial an issue for the American public. According to the Post, the owners of the Washington Nationals feel that an electronic billboard listing the amount of federal taxes paid by District residents that the D.C. Council wants to place in the new ballpark is too "political" and "controversial" for baseball fans. As you may recall, late last year......

As has been mentioned in comments earlier this morning, the Nationals invited President Bush to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the team's season opener against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on March 30. Being a huge baseball fan and having nothing better to do lately, the president naturally accepted. There is some precedent for this. Bush also threw the first pitch on April 14, 2005, when the Nationals played their first game......

Were you unable to score tickets to opening day at the new Nationals stadium? Us too. Lucky for you, the Nationals are now dishing out a small serving of hope for a few hundred lucky fans. Beginning at 9 a.m. this morning and lasting through Friday, March 21 at 5 p.m., you can register for a chance to be picked in a random drawing that allows you to purchase some remaining tickets for the March......

As a baseball writer, I am suppose to fill you with platitudes of hope, spring, and optimism around this time of year. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training today, with them come visions of...see there I go. The Nationals are starting what will probably be the most important season of the team's young existence. This is first year that the team will play in its new stadium, which is coming along nicely. The team......

Tired of seeing Teddy Roosevelt lose the Nationals' Presidents Race? Be him yourself. The Nats web site has a signup for part time jobs as the racing presidents. The qualifications are pretty basic: be between 5'7" and 6'6" (sorry Jon Rauch), be able to run the baseline wearing the 45 pound suits, and be available for about 40 percent of the Nats' home games (opening day at the new stadium is April 2 March 30).......

Good morning, Washington. We'll be standing by for a good chunk of the day to see what the Metro Board decides to do about the proposed fare hike - the Board is meeting at 11 a.m. for a session that is expected to produce a final vote on the fare hikes, which could go into effect as soon as January. Board members have indicated they would likely pass a fare hike that is slightly less......

Jim Bowden has been a busy man this offseason. Since we last left the Nationals, they have acquired outfielder Elijah Dukes, infielder Aaron Boone, pitcher Tyler Clippard, and catcher Paul Lo Duca. They have also signed outfielder Wily Mo Pena to a one year deal. Betting that he can't possibly have two horrible years in a row, the Nats have also signed outfielder Ryan "more strikeouts than total bases" Langerhans to a one year deal.......

This is actually the first snow-covered Photo of the Day for this season. Clearly I was just waiting for something monumental. Oh, what do you want? It's Monday. And Flickr user *Toshio* does, in fact, have an impressive photo here -- I'm even more surprised by daytime photos of D.C. cultural sites that don't have a single person in sight. EXIF. Speaking of impressive, last night we reached 15,000 photos in the DCist Flickr......

Remember those billboards that popped up in the 1980s that counted up the national debt, dollar by dollar? Pretty scary, huh? Well, District voting rights activists want something similar for their cause. Today the D.C. Council held a hearing on legislation that would allow the city to place two large LED billboards -- one outside the John A. Wilson Building and the other outside the new Washington Nationals stadium -- that would display the amount......